Longing For Love
by dispix208
Summary: It's Merida's official party for her to be welcomed into the Disney Princess Club, and the princes are invited, too. But, as Merida sees the princes and princesses together, she begins to wish she had a prince of her own.


Longing For Love

By: dispix208

**Author's Note: Hi, everyone! I know it's been a while since I've published a story, but I've been really busy. But, I'm back and ready to share another one with you! This is another Disney Princess story, and this one has Merida in it! Enjoy the story and remember to review! **

**PS: The reason why Pocahontas isn't in this one is because she didn't want to go to the party because she doesn't have a prince. **

Chapter 1

Today was a special day for the Disney Princesses because today was the day of Princess Merida's official party of welcoming her into the Disney Princess Club. It was a tradition that the Club had started when Ariel joined. The ceremony was even more special because this was one of the only times the princesses were allowed to bring their princes to one of their meetings, since the meetings were usually for the princesses only.

Everyone was already at Cinderella and Charming's castle, preparing for and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest princess. The princesses were preparing the castle for her arrival, while the princes hung out in the gardens, catching up. Since Cinderella had fired the servants when she married Charming because she insisted on taking care of the castle herself, Tiana, Rapunzel and Aurora were preparing the food in the kitchen. Jasmine and Mulan were making sure the guards were prepared to guard the large amount of people that would be in the castle, Snow White and Cinderella were making sure the castle was clean and Belle, Pocahontas and Ariel were setting the dining room table and finishing decorating the castle. All of a sudden, Snow White called, "She's here!" Rapunzel and Mulan went to fetch the men and Cinderella rushed to the front door to greet her guest. She opened the door to reveal a young girl with wild, curly, red orange hair.

"Welcome back, Merida," said Cinderella. Merida had been to Cinderella's castle before, for a special Disney Princess Club meeting, during which the other princesses had to decide whether or not Merida should be accepted into the Club. They, of course, accepted her, mostly for the reason that they thought she would be a good role model for her fans, especially young girls.

"Thank you, madam," responded Merida at the moment. Cinderella then embraced Merida in a hug, which Merida did not appreciate. She was not a hugging-type person. So, instead of returning the hug, she scowled and waited for Cinderella to finish.

After what seemed like forever to Merida, Cinderella finally released her, much to Merida's relief. Then, Cinderella smiled at Merida and said, "Everyone else is already here. Come inside." Merida followed Cinderella to the throne room, where everyone else was gathered, talking to each other. Cinderella introduced Charming to Merida. Then, the other princesses introduced their princes to Merida.

Chapter 2

After about half an hour, Merida found herself standing alone, watching everyone else talking with each other. She looked around at the princes, thinking about her interactions with them. Most of them she found to be quite friendly, and, though Merida hated to admit it, handsome. There were a few, however, that did not appeal to Merida. She was not particularly fond of Snow White's prince or Charming, because, while they were both very nice men, she found them to be a bit distant, as if they were constantly thinking about something other than the conversation they were in. They also were a little too quiet for Merida's liking. She wasn't too fond of Eugene, Rapunzel's prince, either, but not as much as the first two princes. He did have some qualities that appealed to Merida. And then, there was Naveen, Tiana's prince. She wasn't too sure about him. Although he was _very _nice and friendly towards her, Merida couldn't help noticing that there was a hint of flirting in his tone of voice and some of the things he said towards her. Even though Tiana had laughed at his actions and reassured Merida that Naveen was only joking, Merida did _not _appreciate Naveen's actions for obvious reasons, and Merida did not like men who tried to flirt with her, even if it was unintentional like Tiana claimed Naveen's was. Since she disliked him the most, she decided to try and keep her distance from him.

Merida then thought about her family back home, and thought they would love this place. She would have to ask Cinderella later about her family visiting at a later time.

Merida was still thinking these thoughts when a voice behind her asked, "Having fun?" Merida immediately turned around, startled. She was relieved to see Eugene standing in front of her.

"Dearie me! You startled me," exclaimed Merida.

"Sorry," said Eugene. He then said, "I noticed you were standing here by yourself and decided to come over here and talk to you."

There was a pause. Merida looked at the ex-thief, waiting to hear what it was he wanted. After a few minutes, Eugene asked, "So, where are you from?"

"Scotland," said Merida.

"I've heard it was a nice place," said Eugene. "Tell me about it." Merida then told the prince about her homeland and the castle that she lived in.

After about half an hour, someone called Eugene's name. He turned towards the speaker and gestured to him or her that he would be right there.

"Excuse me for a minute," he said, then he went to talk to whoever had called his name.

Chapter 3

Merida was once again left alone. She watched everyone mill about, talking and laughing with each other. As she was looking around, Merida noticed that everyone in the room except for herself had someone they loved more than anything else in the world. Most of them were with their loved ones at the moment, and some had their loved ones at the moment, and some had their arms around each other, were holding hands, or showing other forms of affection for each other. The more she watched them, the more she realized that she had not found love herself. Her parents had told her that she no longer had to marry someone, but as she was watching everyone else in the room, for some reason, she began to wish that she had chosen one of the suitors that had come to her castle a few months ago.

To Merida's relief, her thoughts were interrupted when Cinderella announced, "All right, everyone. Dinner is ready." Everyone then followed Cinderella into the dining room for dinner. Merida was glad to have a distraction from her thoughts on love. But, Merida would find that that would not happen.

Chapter 4

Dinner started off great. Merida talked and laughed with everyone. The food was excellent, too. After dinner, everyone was still at the table, talking to each other. Aurora turned to Merida and asked, "Merida, where's your prince?" Merida glanced at her now empty plate, not wanting to tell everyone the truth for fear of embarrassing herself.

"Well, umm, you see…" Merida began. She then slowly looked up to find everyone looking at her, which made things about ten times worse. She nervously glanced around at everyone.

To her relief, Tiana guessed, "You don't have one, do you?" Merida looked down at her plate again and shook her head. She could hear gasps and whispers throughout the table. Merida didn't dare look up to see who was making the noises.

"Did he die," asked Snow White in a sad, barely audible voice. Merida shook her head.

"Did you realize he wasn't right for you," asked Rapunzel. Merida shook her head again.

Then, Ariel asked, "So, what happened?" Merida sighed, not wanting to share with the others the reason she didn't have a prince. She answered Ariel by saying, "I don't want to talk about it."

There was a pause. Then, Jasmine said, "Well, if you need anything, just let us know."

"Thank you," said Merida quietly. Everyone then went back to talking to each other.

After a few minutes, Merida said, "Excuse me." Everyone stopped talking and watched Merida stand up and go outside to the gardens. Once she was gone, everyone looked at each other, confused and worried. They then went back to talking to each other.

Chapter 5

Merida wandered through the gardens until she came to a bench. She sat down and looked at her surroundings. It was dark, but Merida could still make out the flowers surrounding her. She breathed in their perfumed scent and sighed. She was glad she was finally in a quiet place so she could gather her thoughts together and sort out her feelings. The discussion that had occurred inside was very awkward. She had never reacted that way when someone had asked about her love life before, and she didn't know why she reacted that way tonight. Maybe it was because she felt overwhelmed by the amount of people that were inside. She had never been comfortable in crowds, even though she had encountered many of them in her lifetime.

As Merida was contemplating, she heard a woman's voice calling her name. She sighed, annoyed and muttered, "Now what?" Couldn't they just leave her alone for at least a few minutes? Merida decided to remain silent and hoped that whoever was looking for her didn't find her, especially if Naveen was with her.

She cringed when she heard footsteps coming towards her, obviously belonging to more than one person. _At least they're all women's footsteps,_ Merida thought, slightly relieved that Naveen wasn't outside.

Chapter 6

"There you are," said a female voice a few minutes later. Merida swore to herself in Gaelic under her breath. She turned to see Jasmine in front of her.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," said Belle. She and Mulan came up behind Jasmine.

"Have you been out here the whole time," asked Mulan.

"Aye," answered Merida, looking down at her feet.

There was a pause. Then, Merida felt movement on either side of her. She glanced up to see Jasmine and Belle sitting next to her. Mulan was kneeling in front of her.

"You look sad," said Jasmine. Merida said nothing and looked back down at her feet.

"What's the matter," asked Belle.

"Nothing," muttered Merida.

"It sure doesn't look like 'nothing,'" said Mulan. Merida was still silent.

There was a pause as the other three princesses waited for Merida to tell them what was bothering her. When she didn't, Belle said, "It's all right. You can tell us. We're your friends." When Belle said that, Merida immediately looked up at her.

"You really think of me as your friend," she asked, shocked. The other three smiled and nodded.

"No one's ever said that to me before." The other three smiled sympathetically at Merida.

There was a pause. Then, Jasmine asked, "Now that you know you can trust us, will you tell us what's bothering you?"

Merida cringed inside. She was hoping they wouldn't ask about it anymore. But, she supposed that she should tell them. Her mother had always told her that it was better to tell others how she felt than to keep her feelings to herself. So, she took a deep breath and said, "When I was sitting in there, I felt a little…lonely." She paused and looked at her fellow princesses, who were patiently waiting for her to continue.

"I was looking around at all of you and noticed all of you had yourselves a lad to call your own, if that makes sense."

The others nodded to let Merida know that they understood. Then, Merida continued, "Well, the more time I spent in there, the more uncomfortable it got for me for some reason. So, I decided to come out here and gather my thoughts together."

There was a pause. Jasmine, Belle and Mulan smiled at each other knowingly.

"What," asked Merida, confused by the other princesses' reactions.

"Merida," asked Jasmine. "Is there anyone special back home that you wish were here with you now?"

"Well, my family-"began Merida.

"Besides them," interrupted Mulan.

Merida shook her head slowly and said just as slowly, "No. Why do you ask?" She was still confused.

"We're thinking you might be in love with someone," said Belle.

Merida gave the other princesses a shocked and surprised look and exclaimed, "Of course not! What made you think of such a thing?!"

"Well, I felt the same way when I was new to the Club," said Mulan. "I was in love with someone, but we weren't married yet."

Merida thought carefully about what Mulan had just told her and what she had told the others. Now that they mentioned it, she did want to find someone who would love her for who she really was, not for her looks, status or abilities like the suitors that had visited her last year had been. She must have unconsciously voiced her thoughts out loud because now the other princesses were giving her serious looks. Merida was shocked and surprised at herself for actually telling others how she felt instead of keeping them penned up inside of her, something she had been struggling with her whole life.

There was a pause as everyone took in what Merida had just said. Then, Jasmine asked, "You do realize that you don't have to be in love with anyone to be in this club, right?"

Merida nodded and answered, "I remember you told me before I came here. And my parents no longer require me to be married, either. A few hours ago, I was perfectly happy with that. But now, I kind of wish my parents made me marry. I enjoy my freedom and independence, but I just want to feel what it's like to be in love."

There was a pause. Then, Belle said, "That's exactly how I felt when Adam was under the curse." All the princesses had told Merida about their pasts when they first met her.

"Really," asked Merida. Belle nodded. Then, Jasmine said, "I also felt that way before I met Aladdin."

"And me with Shang," said Mulan.

There was another pause as Merida took in what her fellow princesses had just told her. It appeared to her they weren't as different from her as she had thought after all.

THE END!

**Author's Note: Well, I'm finally finished with the story; sorry it took so long to publish. I'll be writing more stories, so be on the lookout for future stories from me. Remember to read and review! **


End file.
